The Adventure Begins
by Iscreamer1
Summary: My own take on the Thomas & Friends special of the same name to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Railway Series
1. How Thomas Came to Be

Thomas the Tank Engine, whose story proved the impossible that even the small and weak can do big and strong things, is only one of the many famous locomotives in the saga of rail transportation. As late as the 18th century, trains were pulled by horses instead of steam engines, which did not exist around this time. English inventor Thomas Newcomen created the world's first pumping engine, used to extract water from mines. Of it's conception he noted: "I had not walked further than the Golf-house when the whole thing was arranged in my mind." With the rise of the Industrial Revolution from 1760 to 1840, the introduction of the Bessemer process allowed steel to be made inexpensively, building long lasting steel rails through rampant diseases and unpredictable conditions of nature.

The world was harsh, but the rails were getting longer. Stocks, mail and passengers from different sides of Britain and America were increasing. By the late 1860s, rail travel had greatly improved to meet these needs with the development of the first high pressure steam locomotive _Catch me who can_ built by Richard Trevithick in 1808. While shipbuilders aimed for comfort, style and speed to take less time in transatlantic crossings, a Northumberland engineer named George Stephenson formed the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. Pioneer promoter William James, arraigned and surveyed the route along with Stephenson's son Robert and iron founder William Losh with one main stipulation: they would hold a contest to see which type of engines would prove useful to work on the line, partly organized by the board of directors. Five innovative steam locomotives competed for the new railway and Stephenson's _Rocket_ was the last to enter and he completed the Rainhill Trials on October 8th, 1829.

Trains and ocean liners were built for a new type of passenger who could afford them. In their world, a woman could be seen at a formal dinner party in a $1,000 diamond necklace and elegant meals were served entirely onboard yachts and special carriages called buffet cars. The _nouveau riche_ found it's style during the Victorian era, a name given by historians and authors describing the culture and society of Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1901. The western and eastern worlds were secure, prosperous and industrialized in the years following the American Revolution and the Crimean War known as _Pax Britannica_ or in America, "the Gilded Age". Poverty was still everywhere, but the middle class enjoyed leisure time while the upper class began to flaunt their wealth. The great minds of science, stories, technology, geology, politics and business, including Charles Darwin, Rudyard Kipling, James Joseph Sylvester, Jefferson Davis, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Andrew Carnegie, J. P. Morgan, Grenville Dodge and even Oakes Ames accelerated the industrial beat of progress over the gentle rhythms of nature to see results that are larger than life...and very few of them thought about the consequences.

During the reign of Queen Victoria and her son King Edward VII, bigger certainly is better in the world of commerce between shipbuilders and rail construction. The increasing trade of immigration aboard ships also allowed train carriages to accommodate third class, the modest working second class and the thrill seeking first class to their selected ships in docks and harbour ports known as boat trains. On July 27, 1846, an Act of Parliament amalgamated five railway companies into the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, it's first locomotives drawn from a collection by superintendent John Chester Craven who built up the necessary facilities for the new railway to allow the company in building their own line of locomotives at Brighton Works. Their first constructed class of locomotive was a 2-2-2 called _Jenny Lind_ after the Swedish soprano singer. 24 tons in total would reach a speed of 43 mph crossing the railway route within an hour or two, leaving it's chief rival companies, the London and South Western Railway and the South Eastern and Chatham Railway up for the challenge.

Even after the death of King Edward in 1910, not everything had been optimistic in the industrial race of the twentieth century. A year after his death in 1911, the Ottoman Empire and the Kingdom of Italy waged war on what would be the first aerial bombardment by airplanes and airships known as the Italo-Turkish War. That same year, the White Star Line built RMS _Titanic_ , a huge ocean liner that struck a North Atlantic iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912 and sunk with great loss of life. While _Titanic's_ story was widely published in American and British newspapers, the Balkan states were impressed at the Italians' efforts to defeat the supposedly weak Ottomans, creating nationalism within the Balkan League and setting off another war against the Ottomans. For the second time, the Ottoman Empire suffered a great defeat.

One man with no fear of progress was Sir Topham Hatt I, an apprentice at Swindon Works. The Tidmouth, Knapford and Elsbridge Light Railway on the Island of Sodor had caught his eye. He started a second job as an engineer on that railway under the employment recommendation of A. W. Dry & Co and made attractive offers to the two other railway lines that were losing money. His amalgamation with the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway route grew to become the Tidmouth, Wellsworth, and Suddery Railway. Topham's desire to run a railway line focused on connecting the island with the nearby Furness Railway, at the time run by Frederic James Ramsden. In December 1908, he inherited the position of managing director from his father, the late Sir James Ramsden, whose honor in the field of civil engineering had been erected in a bronze statue of himself in Barrow-in-Furness. The trains and ships of the FR continued serving under the Union Jack, but now Topham's idea for a major railway on Sodor rested heavily in the front of his mind.

The Furness Railway had flourished in business with the new Barrow Central Railway station in 1882. Fourteen years after the opening, W. F. Pettigrew, then superintendent of the railway and it's subsidiaries, built the "K2" class of locomotives to supersede the similar K1 class for heavier trains on the Cambrian Coast Line. The influence of the Furness Railway on transportation by ships and association with the sea earned the K2 it's nickname "Larger Seagull". The first of these engines, #22 was named Edward, and he was the first engine to have Sir Topham Hatt as his driver for a mere thousand pounds.

In 1870, the Great Northern Railway amazed the world of rail transportation with a revolutionary locomotive, the Stirling Single. At 30 tons, it's large driving wheel could drive them up the main line in less than an hour at a speed of 50 mph. In the 1895 Race to the North, #1 of this class named Emily held the record as the world's fastest locomotive for three years until the creation of the C1 Atlantic engines by Henry Ivatt. Pullman coaches introduced in 1867 featured the luxuries and elegance of ocean travel and the great European hotels, complete with a beautiful interior, a piano, dining services and plush lounges built by master craftsmen. The GNR now had the fastest locomotives and the next step in size and luxury would have to be something more spectacular in the next thirty years.

While the other English railways had positioned themselves for speed, the LBSCR hoped to make progress with newer locomotives for the coming 1910s. Over a pleasant evening, L. B. Billinton, taking over as locomotive engineer from D. Earle Marsh, conceived three new locomotive classes. He envisioned some of these with the Stephenson and Walschaerts valve gears, which had been used to modify his earlier locomotives. At a certain tonnage and speed, these engines marked a new era for the company than anything he had ever built. These three engines are called the E2 class, used for shunting duties, the K class, for mixed-traffic loads and the L class, for heavy express trains of wealthy travelers with comfortable passenger service.

In 1913 after the new engines were envisioned, the dream was set in motion and construction plans were reviewed for the E2 tank engines, the first of the three to be built at Brighton Works. Billinton presented the drawings assisted by leading engineer Vere Awdry and it was stated to began construction on the E2s now and the other two classes later. This signaled an economic boom for Brighton, fast becoming south England's top railway terminus to London.

The designers of the Great Western Railway at the time had pursued a vision of improvement with no expense spared. Chief mechanical engineer George Jackson Churchward was among the many senior managers who proposed several ideas that would make the GWR's passenger express services the most fastest trains on the Holiday Line. By April 21st, as John Brown & Company's construction on the luxurious RMS _Aquitania_ was completed with the typical features of a sweeping grand staircase under a roof of glass and iron, a pair of first class elevators to carry passengers between decks, a swimming pool for fitness and a dining saloon for refreshments, Earle Marsh, chief assistant mechanical engineer of the GNR Atlantic engines, built his own Atlantics for the LBSCR before his retirement and had abandoned the naming of Brighton locomotives before christening the #39 engine "La France" in honor of the French president Armand Fallières during a state visit. Assigned with the passenger trains _Southern Belle_ and _Brighton Limited_ , they were described as the most luxurious trains in the world for speed and design.

The next generation of LBSCR locomotives were obstructed by a motive power shortage from 1905 to 1912. To accommodate the lack of space for Brighton Works to expand, the railway established Lancing Carriage Works for extra repair and construction on locomotives and rolling stock, hiring more railway men in record numbers. Some parts of the main line were electrified for future electric trains, while Herbert Walker arranged a similar ordeal on the LSWR. Meanwhile, architect Alfred T. Fellheimer was in America, overseeing the reconstruction of a larger Grand Central Terminal in New York City for more passenger trains.

In May 1913, railway workers had set the wheels for the very first E2, #100 at Brighton Works. As construction continued, the LBSCR prepared the world with it's three new engine classes by Billinton to replace the outdated E1 goods locos. To evoke the recently discontinued naming of Brighton locomotives, it was Vere Awdry and his three year old son Wilbert who drew the name of #100 from the founding father of locomotives: Thomas, honoring Thomas Newcomen who invented the pumping engine, although Billinton was more impressed with Newcomen's great work and not his positive outlook on life. Thomas was born on May 12, opening his eyes for the first time to a small boy who was no more than three: Wilbert Awdry. His first words were just simply:

"Hello."

After the completion, Thomas' brothers and sisters were already being planned out and final plans called for five new engines of the same class. L. B. Billinton called for some more, but chairman Lord Ponsonby and chief engineer Charles L. Morgan disagreed with this, wanting to give Billinton more time to start work on the K class as well as a different change of pace for the workmen at a slightly higher wage. In the end, four additional E2s 101 to 104 are considered adequate for shunting duties. In fact, it was Thomas' siblings who helped the workload on the railway by 17 percent. But alternate modifications in fixing the engine's flaws are underway.

On May 26, 1913, as Igor Sikorsky was becoming the first pilot to fly a plane with four engines and fixed wings, Thomas was let out of the shed to begin work. Aided by a recently hired driver and fireman, he puffed easily out of his shed and came to a gentle stop after a speed of 12 miles per hour on the main line, staying clear of any trains. While Thomas was prepared for further trials, LBSCR officials celebrated over lunch, accepted his place as a shunter and requested that he'd be driven to Southampton to begin the practice of shunting trucks while construction on the following E2s began to shape.

Unlike the E2, Billinton's next locomotive, the K class, held a new set of revolutionary features and designs for all the engines of the LBSCR. It was the first to have a Belpaire firebox, a square shaped boiler made possible without going against the loading gauge. Alternately, it was fitted with a John G. Robinson-style superheater within the boiler and a Stephenson valve gear. With the boilers fed by hot water injectors, a powerful Weir pump would feed the steam back to the tender where the engine could run on four tons of coal and 3,900 gallons of water. Also, it was the first locomotive by the LBSCR to be fitted with a top feed for the driver to check the water valve. _Engineering Magazine_ called this "a new type of express goods engine" while in the public mind, the K class was just about as good as any other goods engine. Expectations for Thomas ran even lower in his field of work.

The other side of the world was having it's problems with politics. On June 28, 1914, as Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and wife Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg were touring the Bosnian city of Sarajevo in an open car, Gavrilo Princip, cohort of the Serbian nationalist Nedeljko Čabrinović, suddenly fired two shots at a point blank range, fatally wounding them. Both Ferdinand and Sophie were rushed to the nearest medical center to seek help, but died within the hour. The Austro-Hungarian authorities determined that Serbia's protest against the annexation of Herzegovina during the Bosnian crisis of 1908 and the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913 had spread an uproar between the two countries. Anti-Serbian riots occurred the very next day, with Serbian property being destroyed, razed or pillaged. Because of this, and subsequent events of political matters known as the July Crisis, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had no other choice but to declare war on Serbia and it's neighboring allies.

To the Royal Armies of Europe, the men serving the United Kingdom are the pride of their nation. The British Army enlisted nearly 400,000 men, with the Royal Sussex Regiment enlisting an approximate number of 20,000 men, some of whom have bent their backs in labor over the Billinton engines at Brighton Works. Although construction and repairs on locomotives and carriages had been obstructed by the war to a degree with Lancing Carriage Works having similar problems, the men and their families all felt a personal attachment to be leaving them behind. The master craftsmen of Brighton and Lancing had no greater satisfaction than to take part in what would be known as "the Great War".

In December 1913, the later four E2 tank engines were completed. They had a curved drop at each end of their platforms, held together by slotted frames and a 170 lb boiler. They had the cylinders of the I2 class, giving out a circular shape commonly seen in a tank engine. The tractive effort of 21,305 lbf would drive their four foot wheels up from 30-42 mph at a total weight of 52 tons. The water capacity could hold up to 1,090 gallons of water, somewhat less than the L and K class locomotives. The cost of building and fully equipping the engines had come to at least £1,000 or 500 pounds sterling, the average cost of a locomotive by their standards. The LBSCR had been looking forward to a new series of E2s with greater improvements in design and sufficient capacity in coal and water.

Two years after their completion in March 1915, Thomas' driver and fireman performed a push-pull train service on the East and West Coastway lines. Thomas himself was faced with the practice of stopping at every station with a 50ft balloon motor coach in the back, himself in the middle and a rake of six coaches in the front, while practicing going backwards and forwards with the motor coach to pick up passengers and then bringing himself back after an hour and twenty three minutes. Satisfied with his performance, the LBSCR officials proclaimed Thomas fit for passenger duties in spare time of shunting trucks. Sir Topham Hatt, who had been visiting Brighton in search of a station pilot, accepted Thomas on behalf of himself and the LBSCR's support for the construction of his first major railway line: the North Western Railway. In just two months, Thomas would be leaving Brighton for the Island of Sodor.


	2. A Historical Journey

May 12, 1915

The Cunard Line had been vulnerable to bad publicity following the loss of RMS _Lusitania_ to the German submarine _U-20_ just five days ago. On May 9, during the second battle of Artois, the French forces advanced against the Germans in Notre Dame de Lorette and dealt a hard blow of over 100,000 casualties. From a later point on, America would be entering the Great War out of honor, respect and loyalty to their European allies with extra safety measures and unique army practices. But while most of this was happening, Thomas was preparing for his journey to Sodor in Brighton, about to pull a special, but long and heavy train of twenty trucks and a special saloon coach in the front.

Last night, after bidding his fellow engines and Brighton brothers goodbye, Thomas went off to collect the trucks needed for his "special train". The LBSCR officials recruited the necessary troops, doctors and nurses for the Sodor Regiment. With his father on leave for the war, young Wilbert wanted to go as well, even though his mother Lucy wouldn't let him. With nothing else to do, he needed a larger amount of company besides his younger brother George and older siblings Bridget and Carol Edward. In total, the single 60ft carriage would carry over thirty people, including twenty five soldiers, one commander, two doctors and two nurses. That same day, the train was ready to be loaded with 20 tons of practical items like coal, minerals, rations, ballast, parcels, a crate of rifles and four flatbeds of tracks and sleepers among the unusual things like golf clubs and tennis balls for men, books and letters for women, toys for children and an 18-pounder gun.

In order for Thomas to travel, he needed to stop at every station to take on water, about 1,256 gallons of it. Normally, this would be easy, but Thomas' class was not built for long distance duties, so his water tanks needed to be extended. Already having enough coal ensured via the six coal trucks, the LBSCR stepped in to modify the side tanks in the precise measurements, designs and workings of the later batch of E2 engines from L. B. Billinton's resources. Because of this, Thomas' journey would be delayed by two months and when he would puff his way onto the main line, a quarter of his passengers would be the Brighton residents who had already worked on the previous numbers.

For the people who had signed on to form the Sodor Regiment, Thomas was a most agreeably cheeky engine unlike some of the more stricter and pompous locomotives that they had worked with and traveled on before. But it had soon proved to be a challenge when Thomas' fussy attitude settled in about remembering the names and loads aboard his special train. The previous day, when Wilbert, George, Bridget, Carol and their mother came to visit the passengers at the Bedford Hotel restaurant on the West Pier, Commandant C. G. Yates of the Brighton Division was the first to state his opinion.

"It is difficult to say as to whether or not this little engine has had some difficulty among his piers. I hear he deliberately pushed an engine off the rails once and that was only fourteen days after he was built, but I can assure that it's just a rumor. Another thing is that it took him another two weeks to remember which coaches belonged to which engine and which yard to take them back to after the larger engines have returned."

Charles Henry Norramby, the Duke of Sodor, was also present in the dining room of the hotel. He was visiting Brighton to oversee the new recruits with Commander Yates. He had a pleasant attitude that was well respected among the people who knew him and saw his charming wit and ever-learning record as the ideal soldier for an international war. Some would even switch their bookings to Thomas' special train when learning that he would be aboard. When Mrs. Awdry asked about his father Henry John Norramby's current career as a commander in the Royal Army, he explained that recruits often felt safe when under the command of a veteran who would teach these newcomers about the dangers of war and how to avoid them.

"Well...when anyone asks about my father and his life as an Earl, or as we on the island call them Duke, and his fifty year career in the military, all I can say is uneventful. Not to offend my father in anyway, but even he claims that his life was uneventful. Sure he has been through storms and plagues, but those were only small events compared to his experience and he has been in only one accident at sea when his ship ran aground. That was the _Suevic_. Terrible business, it was. But, no one was hurt and the rescue proved to be quite extraordinary despite the fog and all that. If there is anything worth speaking about, it is that my father was a very lucky man to take part in this war."

When Carol expressed his interest in joining the army, the 33 year old Lieutenant Norramby shook his hand and he had immediately achieved the rank of Sodor Regiment's second lieutenant with twice the salary of the common trooper. Now Wilbert had a slightly more logical reason to be away from the war when Thomas would leave for Sodor.

Wednesday, May 12. Thomas sat on the middle platform of Brighton station at noon and the hour of departure was drawing near. After hearing small fables of Sodor and it's not-so standard gauge railways, he believed that the LBSCR was granting him the respect he deserved from putting up with the snooty express engines and goods engines who were too busy to be bothered by his practical jokes. Throughout the morning, the station was filled with sightseeing onlookers and well-wishers. Soldiers and their families were everywhere, waving farewell to their loved ones from departing passenger trains. Sooner or later, Brighton would be run by women and children working under child labour laws and the anticipation of suffragettes like Emmeline Pankhurst who were seeking the right to vote until the war would end.

Thomas hoped that his wonderful load would attract the press, especially since he would be pulling it from Brighton to Sodor, but the general public was more interested in something else: the luxury of his "rivals". The _Southern Belle_ spanned seven Pullman coaches with a graceful sweep of rich brown and gold lining. Behind it was a train of three suburban coaches pulled by a B1 class tender engine named "Gladstone" for those who preferred to travel the old fashioned way. The sleeping carriage with it's individual compartments compared with transcontinental trains like the _Orient Express_ or the _20th Century Limited_ and each compartment had a shared washroom. The occupants would dine in the restaurant carriage or in the buffet car. There were lounges for all where men could smoke, women would read their books and teenagers would get their first sips of brandy, cognac and other alcoholic beverages. Those seeking for a local run between Brighton and it's branch lines would take the electric trains on the South London Line. Those in need of a quicker run to Shorham-by-Sea would board the rail motor services on the coast lines. The passengers of the _Brighton Belle_ would expect a courteous, yet less regal version of the _Southern Belle's_ carriages and personal services. Even the smaller engines, known as the A1X "Terriers" would be carrying passengers with better food and more privacy than one would expect on a foreign train.

At 10:00 AM, an ambulance train from the Crystal Palace railway station pulled up next to Thomas. The train was pulled by a Terrier class tank engine named Boxhill. He had been Thomas' best friend for the past two years and was sorry to see him go. In addition to wounded soldiers from Ypres and Shaiba, the train also carried officials from St. John Ambulance, who have aided the Red Cross in need of a nursing division hospital for extra patients. Boxhill joked about Thomas' range of passengers being a cross section of freedom fighters and anarchists that have made the war possible and Thomas joked about Boxhill's passengers as nothing but magnates and heirs who were happy to spend a hundred pounds sterling of sending their cars and ships into the war zone, only to have their arrogance punished by the humble workers who were fed up with their abuse and the terrible conditions of the battlefield. The Awdry family was also present at Brighton, ready to entrust their eldest son Carol for the next three years of fighting the Germans. While missing his father at the most, Wilbert was thinking of a plan to stow away onboard the coach.

Most of Thomas' passengers were second and third class residents with special first class tickets provided by the army when the _Southern Belle_ and _Brighton Belle_ were overbooked. These include Colonel Bruce Seton, the 9th Baronet of Abercorn and W. H. R. Rivers, a St John's College graduate and an anthropologist known for treating shell shocked patents. The two nurses traveling were the Bray sisters Mary and Ethel. Their eldest sister, Evelyn was on the front lines in Northumberland, treating wounded soldiers in a large hospital. The saloon coach of Thomas' special train, while lacking the space and grandeur of the express trains, would allow the few passengers to be as comfortable as possible like any other compartment on another train. Before Thomas' departure, the Awdrys were allowed to tour the coach in all of it's glory and when they had left, no one had noticed that young Wilbert was missing.

At the same time Wilbert was thinking of his father, Vere Awdry was conducting a lifeboat drill under the watchful eye of Captain James Ellis, master of the SS _Brighton IV_ , a ship owned by the LBSCR. Vere and the sailors swung out the boats on davits and lowered them with the junior officer aboard. They disconnected the small boat from the falls and rowed out into the sea, reaching about two points off the starboard bow before they turned back and returned to the ship. With the simulated escape complete, Captain Ellis was satisfied and the vessel was adequate to serve as a hospital ship for the Royal Navy by legal standards.

At the stroke of midday, Thomas blew a happy " _peep, peep_ " on his whistle. The shunter coupled him to the train and he pulled away from the platform with strong heaves. The people on the platform waved a jubilant farewell to their loved ones from the other departing trains, but Thomas didn't mind, he knew that people often come first before engines like himself. Photographers clicked away at what would be the last photographs of specific soldiers who would later end up being killed in action behind enemy lines. Onlookers and reporters were thoroughly impressed by Thomas' act of pulling the heavy load, but some had their doubts. History was being made as Thomas led the train out of the station and onto the main line.

But no sooner had he left the platform when at the same time, an H2 Atlantic, #421 "South Foreland" was also leaving the station with the _Southern Belle_. A signalman saw this at the last minute before a near-collision would have happened and quickly set the signal on Thomas' track to red. South Foreland headed off for the main line before Thomas stopped four feet away from having his journey spoiled by an accident. Thomas waited impatiently for the _Southern Belle_ to be out of the way before cautiously proceeding.

"Hurry up!" he called to South Foreland. "This is a _special_ special!"

But South Foreland was taking his time and he was too polite to even utter so much as one rude reply. Now three minutes behind schedule, Thomas started again and made his way towards the tunnel on the other side of the yard.

The near-collision with the _Southern Belle_ was a slightly anti-climatic send off from Brighton station, but most of the passengers onboard the train were too busy with their first lunch to watch the maneuvers that followed. In the rhythm of life aboard a luxury train, a ship, a car or even on horseback, meals were the perfect social event to catch up with old friends or make new ones. While the _Southern Belle_ had seven coaches for passengers to congregate, those onboard the single saloon coach of Thomas' special train had fewer options, but there was enough room to hold a party. Crossing the Brighton Main Line on an afternoon of fair weather, Carol was surprised and relived to see Wilbert onboard the train.

"I thought you were back home with Mother," he said to Wilbert.

"Why should I with all this war going on?" mumbled Wilbert.

"The war will be over soon enough," Carol smiled. "And we'll be as far away from the Germans as possible by tomorrow morning."

The brothers hugged each other for a moment and Carol said, "If anything makes my brother happy, it'll make us even."

About an hour and ten minutes later, Thomas arrived at the LBSCR terminal of London Victoria station, 50 miles north of Brighton. He waited by the water tower, humming a little ditty while his passengers and the station porter loaded and unloaded a few of the letters and parcels from his special train. Of the 385 letters and postal shipments aboard, half of them were messages from MI5 and the War Department and over a third of the letters were conscription notices for those who had not yet been drafted into the army. By 1:30, Thomas was ready to be transferred onto the northern section of the London and North Western Railway route to Sodor. His whistle and puffs of "come along, come along" to the trucks echoed out into the afternoon as he made his way onto the line via Euston station.

Most of Thomas' passengers, including Carol and Wilbert, were keeping up to date with news of the war and the wealthiest of society in the latest issue of the _Daily Telegraph_ from a station vendor. Such topics included a mention of King George V, whose birthday celebration had been canceled due to anti-German rioting. There was also talk of outspoken suffragette Mabel Vernon, an American pacifist who introduced women's rights to the United States using the same methods of the British suffragettes with poet Sara Bard Field. The Bray sisters chatted over the latest fashions of designer Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel while the male soldiers told stories of the French aviator Louis Blérot. Henry George Kendall, captain and survivor of the RMS _Empress of Ireland_ who was currently serving in Antwerp, Belgium, was also discussed among the soldiers for his capture of the homeopathic murderer Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen. Commander Yates squabbled over using a motor car by Henry Ford, the inventor of the automobile, as an alternative for Thomas should he collapse from the heavy load, but Sir Norramby could only go on and on about the royalty and social events of his childhood, mingling with the who's who of high society in his father's visits to the mainland. Aside from all of this, Sir Norramby had more people in mind that he wanted to meet personally. With no expense spared for their luxury and comfort, Thomas could only assume that he was carrying the sort of people built on his image.

Twenty minutes into the day, Thomas arrived at Wembley for Sudbury, an interchangeable station on the LNWR's "New Line". Two porters brought official documents, journalism papers, passports for twelve of the soldiers leaving the country, a luggage bag of small explosives and fifteen letters and parcels aboard the train. A group of visiting marksmen on leave for Southern Rhodesia paid their respects to the soldiers as well. A local seamstress sold a fresh white lace to the Bray sisters, thinking that it would make a good bandage wrap should any of the troops be shot in the ankle. She even received a minimum wage from Mary Bray for the lace.

One visitor to greet the soldiers like any other group in local terms, was Colonel Victor Horsley, Director of Surgery in the British Army Medical Service en route to Egypt. He was a pioneer in the field of neurological surgery and had once been a Fellow of the Royal Society back in 1886. His 1907 book _Alcohol and the Human Body_ , served as a health guide to the soldiers onboard Thomas' special train as it was during the prohibition of drinking in the United Kingdom that began on March 30th, 1915.

At two o'clock, Thomas moved out of the station, steamed down the West Coast Main Line and made his way towards Harrow to take on water. Almost some talk about a letter from the South Midland Brigade stating that Worcester had been empty for the time being was discussed among the passengers. Like themselves, there were over 25 men in each battalion fighting in the war. They came from all regions of Great Britain, leaving behind their families, history and old lives to follow a two hundred and fifty five year wave of their ancestors who served in the British Army. Kitchener's Army was the true bread and butter of the war, the real reason for Thomas to be transferring them away from home and towards an island on the Irish Sea. The Irish Republican Brotherhood may have been hostile and rebellious compared to Scotland's support of the British effort, but with such large hopes and sacrifices, the working class union of Clydebank were grateful to have played a part in the Great War after a long period of political radicalism.

Even on the front lines, the men fighting in the war could still send and receive telegrams from dogs, pigeons and even a Marconi wireless setup to put them in contact with their commanding officers. Most of this service is done on ocean liners with only one or two operators at the morse key, but some armies had more than two telegraphists on the job for 24 hours straight. Most of these specialists like Jack Binns, are young men who have attended a special Marconi school in Seaforth Sands to learn the future of communication. Using the British Army commander call sign "Sunray", they would broadcast the strategics from both sides of the trenches, 500 to 1500 miles beyond the borders.

The sky was blue with some scattered clouds and an enormous variety of weather everyday. The low temperatures and prolonging of rainfall spread over Thomas' funnel as he puffed his way proudly up the main line. Thomas even spoke for everyone aboard his special train, discussing the smooth movement of his coach, singing "There's A Long, Long Trail", playing with their cards and dominoes and even reading books that the Bray sisters had packed for the journey. Everything seemed quite simple from what most people expected on a train ride.

The inside of Thomas' coach was busy with the voices of everyone onboard. No matter where they came from, they were united in their journey to Sodor. Within the carriage, the uncertain world became a small and friendly place of mixed classes formed together in a universal society.

"Do you have any knowledge of the Norwegian language?" asked Mary Bray to one of the younger soldiers. "I've taken a slight interest into the subject."

"Just some French," the young man admitted. "I don't expect to learn German, even if we forgive each other at the end of the war."

"My mother was Norwegian," said another soldier. "And so is my grandmum."

Mr. Rivers was admiring a small drawing of HMS _Victory_ , in which William Rivers, a senior member of his family served aboard as a midshipman. Norramby was reading the Sherlock Holmes novel _A Study in Scarlet_ , something that he had inherited from his mother as a holiday gift. Wilbert was staring out the window, still thinking about his father just as Carol came up from behind him. He had been having a drink of brandy with Colonel Seton.

"You're gonna miss it?"

Wilbert turned around confused.

"You mean Daddy?"

"No," replied Carol. "The others back home in Brighton."

"I guess I'll miss them too," Wilbert sadly admitted.

"We'll see them again soon," said Carol with comfort.

"You're always right," said Wilbert with hope and they went to end of the coach for a game of dominoes.

Although his journey was off to a perfect start, the rails were not without its accidents and technical problems. At 2:20, Thomas arrived at Watford Junction. There, he was met by an engine named Precursor, one of the 130 tender engines built by George Whale in 1904. He had been pulling his last passenger train for the day and he was so exhausted that he missed a red signal. Thomas' driver and fireman however found no cause for alarm, as passing red signals were a common violation as long as no derailments had taken place. Thomas told Precursor that he was on his way to Sodor and the signalman had informed all traffic from Boxmoor to Wolverton of the approaching special train.

Back home at Brighton, Mrs. Awdry and her two remaining children went to speak with L. B. Billinton, Lord Ponsonby and C. L. Morgan about Wilbert's absence at the pier, yet all three men were locked in a telling conversation about the German Army's capture of Windhoek, the capital of South Africa.

"So the krauts have taken over South Africa, then?" asked Billinton to Ponsonby.

"Not if our forces push them back," replied Morgan. "On the other hand, your engine is making excellent time."

Billinton puffed on a cigar, nearly coughing as he spoke.

"I know that Thomas is on his way to the island and with the amount of rolling stock he is pulling, it can be conceived as a test of strength and speed."

"I understand your intentions, Mr. Billinton," Pononsby disagreed. "But I would have preferred it if you did not have him pull too many trucks."

"Then I shall leave what is best for you to decide if Thomas were to be sent back," sighed Billinton with defeat. "But I still think of it as a test of strength. He will make a fine station pilot for Topham...that is if he is assigned to other jobs."

When the men turned to face Mrs. Awdry, Billinton was the first to ask.

"Anything you wish to say, Lucille?"

"Never mind," she replied.

She left and the men went back to their tea.

At 4:13, Thomas arrived at Roade station near the Northhampton loop line where he met a discarded DX goods class tender engine numbered 1418. Back in 1899 while pulling a goods train through a rainstorm between Conway and Penmaenmawr, he ran into the sea where the water had washed away the line and derailed on his side, killing both crew members. Thomas made a brief acknowledgement of respect for 1418 and continued on course. He was silent all the way to Rugby.

Thomas was low on water by the time he reached Brinklow, but still had a few lumps of coal in his bunker. His fireman transferred the extra coal from the trucks with his shovel while the driver operated the water tower, finally getting the engine back to proper working order. Fully replenished by 4:35, they were now six minutes behind in their schedule.

As soon as Thomas arrived at Stafford by 5:15, he had another engine to talk to during his stop. This time an Alfred the Great class tender named Orion with a last minute passenger train. He had reported of further trains once Thomas mentioned that he was heading for Sodor. The signalman at the station began his last hour of work by warning all trains from Blackpool to Whitmore of the special. Thomas' driver looked over a Railway Clearing House map of the route and calculated that with their given speed, they would reach Sodor by midnight. Without any significant attention to Thomas' workings, the fireman was certain that they would make it to Sodor the very next day.

Onboard the coach, a copy of Canadian lieutenant colonel John McCrae's new poem _In Flanders Fields_ was spoken by every passenger who took their turn. Mr. Norramby led the words first before it could be memorized by all of the passengers. Even Wilbert was learning to read the rondeau with the help of Carol. This piece of literature among with the closing line "We shall not sleep, though poppies grow in Flanders fields" would go on to become one of the most iconic war quotes of all time.

In spite of McCrae's wisdom and guidance over the struggle of life, remembrance and the peace that came afterwards, there was still a human element at work. At 5:35, Thomas arrived at Crewe, home to a major facility in the history of railways. No. 1881 of the Class B series of locomotives by Francis Webb at Crewe Works in 1901 was present at the station with a light train from the northern region, describing Thomas' train as something only he could pull. Thomas whistled to the signalmen that he was there, but had already acknowledged the previous update on traffic. As he was beginning to find out that his heavy load was starting to take its toll, with only 12 hours left before Sodor, the sun started to dip and the passengers were all warm inside.

The Coal Tank locomotive No. 1118 was there to greet Thomas at Leyland. He described that Sodor was about 75 miles dead ahead, turning westward on the Furness Railway. Arriving at 6:05 PM, Thomas was the fifth engine he stopped to chat with on his journey and also failed to inform the signalman of any approaching trains. The station signalman had seen this from his post and telephoned the signal box further up the line at Garstang & Catteral, but their conversation could only be guessed. Thomas' driver later whistled to the signalman at Farington and stopped the train to take on water.

While at Farington around 6:10, Thomas was met by a 19in Express Goods locomotive No. 4640. This time, however, Thomas did not wish to speak with the engine because they were not addressed to one another. Rather, the engine was having his own driver looked over for any faults as if he had just gotten out of an accident. No. 4640, handled the LNWR protocol of all terminating trains at Carlisle to make way for foreign engines from the other railway lines and Thomas was a foreigner in his case. By the time No. 4640 did notice Thomas and how heavy his train looked, he was already puffing out of the station.

At Preston, while admiring the sunset, Wilbert spoke to Thomas about another reason for leaving home, describing large explosions and sounds like bombs falling out of the sky that could be heard all the way from Charing Cross while on holiday in London. The idea of enemy forces attacking the major cities from the sky was unheard of, but it was not with those from aeronautical battalions and a wealth of information of how aviation could be useful in a war. A fleet of German zeppelins had been attacking England since January, drifting over three Norfolk villages before pressing on to London and the southern region. Thomas, now aware of his country's desperation to fight in the war, was glad to be heading up north. He planned to take his train up to full speed, thinking that for all of the wishes and respects that the LBSCR bestowed upon him, Thomas had to run fast from the very war zone that he was hoping to avoid. Wilbert later thanked Thomas for his comfort, knowing that he would need it for when they were safely on Sodor.

Pressing onwards, the wind died down and the passengers were watching the sunset from the windows. Mary and Ethel were looking back on a perfect day: exceptional weather, a smooth trip and preparations for the arrival on Sodor that night. For some reason, Commander Yates forgot to purchase a small dinner for the passengers, leaving them with nothing but a few snacks and light meals they had saved after lunch. And yet, he had an afternoon of worrisome thoughts about leaving his position as a councilor back home in Brighton.

At 6:30, Thomas puffed his hardest. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" was his call as he had heard it from the passenger trains back home. The fireman got his message and fed his boiler with the extra coal from the second truck at the front of the train. Once the driver prepared to stop at Lancaster, Thomas was prepared to head the train at a maximum percentage of coal and water. At his top speed of 42 miles per hour, Thomas was honouring his creator's wishes, but he knew that speed would always have a disadvantage as his driver was trying to be patient with his speed at yellow signals.

At 6:50, Thomas arrived at Lancaster. This time he was met by a George Hughes Class 28 goods engine of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway named James, someone he would later strike a good friendship with in the future. Sodor was apparently 50 miles away and when James asked Thomas if he needed any help in pulling the train, all he said was:

"No thank you, I've made it this far on my own."

And he puffed away.

"What arrogance!" James told his driver. "I try to help and all he does is refuse me!"

"Listen to yourself!" exclaimed the driver. "You've never asked anyone's help before."

"That's because he's smaller than me," James replied vainly. "I've run the line fifty times so far and I've never had an accident."

"Why not we make a good run back to the shed?" suggested the fireman. "Then we'll have well-earned rest."

James couldn't agree more. Thomas, however, could hardly stand the heavy load that he had been pulling up the northern part of Great Britain for almost the entire day. He couldn't even think of other things like an armada of U-boats that surrounded the waters of Sodor as part of their campaign. Tragically on his part, only one engine had offered to help him with the heavy train, but he himself refused in the end. Therefore, Thomas had become incapable of understanding any technical problems that could have been avoided by pulling a lighter train.

On a more positive note, the day his life changed forever had come to a close and Thomas was making good time at his top speed. The train was getting heavier by the minute, but he pounded the rails as fast as his wheels would let him. His traction rods were starting to ache from running at a reckless pace. Thomas felt as if all the bigger engines had a true margin for speed, but it barely seemed to matter to him as the darkness of nighttime was soon setting down upon the land. The lights in his coach were turned off and his passengers were asleep. With his driver and fireman still hard at work in his cab and the guard sleeping alone in the brake van, Thomas knew that his passengers were safe within the grand machinery of rail transportation.

At 7:00, Thomas grew tired. After pulling such a heavy load, he was in great need of a rest. His driver sighted the rail yard of Carnforth just up ahead when something went _rattle_.

"Pull him over to the siding," the driver said to the fireman.

The fireman saw the nearest siding for himself and closed the firebox doors. Then the driver applied the handbrake, stopping Thomas a few feet from the buffers.

The stationmaster had responded from the platform, telling the signalman to set the points for the train to stop. But given the length difference between the train and the siding, they needed a shunter to place the extra trucks that were stuck on the main line. The sudden stop had awoken Thomas and he asked his crew what was the matter.

"It something to do with your wheels," said the driver. "We'll let the guard know about it."

After fetching the guard, the driver discovered that Thomas' traction rods had strained from the heavy trucks he had been hauling all day and was on the verge of breaking down. Once they examined the current state of the rods, all they could say was.

"Looks like we're stuck."

"You can't be serious!" Thomas argued. "I got us this far, didn't I?"

"Any further and you will have broken down for good," the driver said sadly.

"I guess they overdid it with the load," Thomas moaned. "Maybe I should have gotten some help. But all the same, I still have enough puff to pull the train with some assistance."

The stationmaster called for another engine and the guard went to inform the passengers by switching on the coach lights, telling them that their train had stopped for the night because of a "technical difficulty".

"What's he talking about?" yawned Wilbert to Carol.

Carol was awakened by his younger brother with a gentle nudging from his hands. Some of the other passengers dismissed the wake-up with a groan and went back to sleep. The rest of the passengers, only Norramby and Commander Yates, were unable to understand the guard's words.

At Barrow-in-Furness, Edward, who had also been assigned to Sodor for the completion of the North Western Railway, idly checked his load one last time before retiring. By chance, the stationmaster sent a message that Thomas was also on his way to Sodor and had stopped in Carnforth for the night due his strained traction rods. Edward's driver responded, but thought it best to assist Thomas in the early morning and proceed on to Sodor as scheduled. Edward himself, felt concerned and excited before going to bed.

Later on at 8:18 PM, a 2000 Class tank engine from the Midland Railway came to Carnforth to shunt the trucks of Thomas' train that were still stuck on the main line. A shunter uncoupled the major half of the train from the first five coal trucks connected to Thomas and moved them out of harm's way. The news of Thomas' stop at Carnforth was relayed to oncoming traffic en route to the station and with no extra room in the engine shed, he had to stay on the siding.

Late that night, as the other arriving engines had gone to sleep in the shed, Thomas felt almost amazed that his passengers did not share his sense of loneliness. He hummed to the tune of "Daisy Bell" in order to serenade his feelings of how dark and beautiful the night sky looked with shining stars that had faded from the lights of the yard. The moon creeped higher then lower into the black horizon, the distant sounds of the Morecambe Bay were so low that the waves crashing onto the beaches were like the chirps and screeches of nocturnal animals. One of them, an owl, flew over the yard, more clearly seen by the lights of the station and the yard in a perfect swoop of grace and agility. Thomas continued to hum the song, barely and merrily in the small siding. There were no more trains pulling in or out of the station and Thomas had less than 8 hours until sunrise.

At 4:56 AM on Thursday, May 13, Edward's driver and fireman were dressed and already prepared for action. They left Edward's train behind at Barrow and made their way to Carnforth. As they issued a detailed list of instructions regarding the North Western Railway's completion, the stationmaster at Barrow was in his office sending out a simple message to Thomas' crew: "We're coming as quick as possible."

Thomas opened his eyes to a new sunrise and a brand new day. The passengers slept silently in the coach or were half-awake from the light of the sun. Wilbert, among all of them, felt bright and early. The stationmaster went to prepare his morning routine, and from the platform he saw Edward puffing in from the Furness Line. Edward approached Thomas to greet him, only to have his reply be an exhausting yawn of "Who are you?". In spite of an improper greeting, Edward coupled the other half of the special train to Thomas' half and went to find a turntable so that he and Thomas could pull the train together head on. Thomas understood the price of testing his strength with such a heavy train as his traction rods were adjusted. By 5:35 AM, Edward's tender was coupled to Thomas' front and buffer to buffer, the two engines went on their way to Sodor.

As they left Carnforth, Edward's friend, a red tank engine named Albert approached them from Silverdale with his two coaches Victoria and Helena. Edward told him about Thomas' dilemma at Carnforth and that the both of them were going to Sodor. Albert, who had been at Windermere the previous night, recalled his driver's report of a special train entering their railway sometime at seven o'clock. Although he seemed rather cocky, Albert seemed very polite with Thomas as they discovered a similarity in their personas. Moving south to Carnforth and back again to Haverthwaite, Albert passed two other express trains who had already been informed of Thomas' arrival. When the big engines of those trains heard that the long and heavy special had been pulled by small tank engine, they just boasted over the fact they could have done better, but Albert simply told them that they were too late to help.

As they made their way to Barrow on the Furness Line, the rest of Thomas' passengers were just about waking up from a long sleep. The journey had become even longer thanks to the heavy load that Thomas strained to pull up the countryside. Edward and Thomas passed over the recently rebuilt Arnside viaduct, visible with its 50 piers and a panoramic view of the River Kent. A few cargo ships of the Furness Withy Line and a small windjammer were seen standing out in an impromptu regatta. Thomas was overpowered by the beauty of the sea, something he rarely got to face since his shunting practices at Southampton's harbours.

After a minute, Thomas asked Edward. "So you're going to Sodor, too?"

"Yes," replied Edward. "The superintendent, a Mr. Topham Hatt I believe he was, seemed like a nice, but rather stern man. He got to drive me and thought that I'd make a nice addition to the pre-existing engines on Sodor. When I heard that you were going to Sodor as well, you were the right engine to serve as a banker for both of our trains."

"Is it heavy like mine?" Thomas asked worriedly.

"Just one coach, two vans and six other trucks. It's not as long as yours. We have enough supplies to finish the North Western Railway, which is the main railway on Sodor."

Thomas changed the subject.

"Did it take you that long to come for me?"

"It was last night when control heard about a special train. I waited until the early morning to fetch you. When I did, I was fortunate not to wait for any other morning trains, except for a slow goods that kept me out of the way for two whole minutes at Lindal. I had an easier run after that."

"How impressive," Thomas said to himself.

At 6:01, overcast skies were looming overhead and by the time they reached Barrow, the clouds slowly disappeared. Edward marshaled his train to Thomas' break van. Then, as the clouds started to lift, Wilbert could see a green and grey patch of cliffs on the other side of the Walney Channel and the others knew that Sodor was not too far away. Presently, once they were on their way again, they rumbled over a rolling bridge and at last, they were on the North Western Railway.

"We're here!" cried Edward. "A new life is ahead of us."

Thomas couldn't agree more.


	3. Station Pilot

Amidst the weather and daily activities of a normal day, Vicarstown station was packed with a crowd of people waiting to see Edward and Thomas arrive with their precious cargo of supplies needed to complete the railway. A few relatives of the passengers and city officials waited by platform 1 to provide them with a proper form of hospitality. Some even had cameras to take pictures of these moments and share them with the press. They heard two whistles, and Thomas and Edward, carrying a long train of necessities, finally reached the station. Thomas felt dwarfed by the large size and structure of the station, as if they had been constructed with so much effort to receive the larger type of engines.

Thomas' passengers left the coach and passed through the station to meet the citizens. Wilbert held on to Carol's hand, scared by the tall adults jostling their way to make new friends or reunite with their relatives. One man to greet the passengers was North Western Railway chairman Albert Regaby, 6th Baron and 1st Viscount Harwick whose distant cousin had been currently employed by the Board of Trade to investigate the sinking of the _Lusitania_ and the Thrasher incident. His son Henry was a colonel for the Sodor Regiment, who boarded the train to greet Charles Henry Norramby and Commandant Yates, enlisting the soldiers for the regiment. Sir Topham Hatt was also at the station to meet his new engines.

"Welcome to Sodor," he said. "I am Sir Topham Hatt, your new director."

"Please to meet you, sir," said Thomas. "You must be the man Mr. Billinton, my maker, told me about."

"And I'm very pleased to meet you too," boomed Sir Topham Hatt with dignity. "Now, as you can see, I am a very busy man and this is bound to be a very busy railway. So I expect you to make yourself really useful right way."

He told Edward that he was to begin work the very day and he wanted Thomas to start work as a station pilot after he was formally introduced to the other engines.

The job tasks assigned to Thomas became difficult following his arrival. The trucks of his special train were added to the NWR's roster of rolling stock. His coach had been used as small refreshment stand for the workmen who were building the line. A tunnel near Ballahoo was being cut through to allow the engines to pass through without going over the hill, but construction was so poor, that the tunnel roof had partially collapsed. And so the tunnel had to be divided and when it was finished, Edward was able to take his first train on the nearly completed line.

At last, Thomas met the three engines of the Wellsworth and Suddery Railway, their names were Colin, Lily and Adam. Colin was the smallest, and when they came to see Thomas, he was the first to ask.

"And who are _you_?

"I'm Thomas. I'm one of the newer engines."

"I was expecting a bigger engine," said the middle sized one called Lily.

"Well, I was big enough to do my work back home in Brighton," said Thomas insultingly. "I liked my brothers' company better, thank you."

"I hope you will like it here," said Adam the bigger sized tank engine.

Thomas turned his attention to the paint works of the engines, they were all wearing maroon coats with yellow lining and letters.

"Edward's coat of paint looks much like yours," he remarked.

"Thank you," replied the tank engines. "Yours ought to be more like ours."

Thomas did not know what to make of this, he just puffed away to resume work.

"Was it something we said?" asked Colin in a twangy voice.

"He does need a new coat of paint if he is to fit into our railway," replied Adam.

"He may not be as big as you, Adam, but he does seem to be a hard worker," said Lily, and off she steamed to the sheds after a long day of passenger services.

Throughout the week, Thomas spent his time in yard, providing loads and trucks for the completion of the railway. On his first day he collected coal for the depots and water tanks for the station tower. On his second day, he learned about all sidings in Vicarstown yard and nearly bumped into Edward's tender while he was collecting a passenger train for the workmen. Then he backed quickly down and bumped into a line of trucks filled with empty crates.

"OH!" cried the trucks. "Whatever is happening?"

Thomas quickly apologized, and he took the trucks to the station where Lilly was to take them to Ballahoo. On his third day, after accidently pushing some trucks into a pair of buffers, Thomas was prepared for the grand opening of the North Western Railway at Vicarstown station, pushing the coaches into their proper sidings, where he met two sleepy bogie coaches from the Midland Railway.

"I say!" exclaimed the front coach as she opened one eye. "Where are you taking us?"

"To the station," said Thomas. "It's time for the grand opening!"

"But if the grand opening is a holiday," the coaches replied in unison. "You won't need us!"

"I'm Annie."

"And I'm Clarabel," said the coach behind the front. "If you are looking for the express coaches, they are on the other side."

She darted her eyes to a pair of three amber colored suburban coaches on the next track.

"I'm terribly sorry, your ladyships, I'm new around here. My name is Thomas."

He puffed slowly away.

"Such a sweet little engine," Annie chuckled.

At last on Monday, May 17th, the North Western Railway was completed. It spanned for over 80 miles westward from Barrow to Tidmouth on the other side of the island with six branch lines in-between. As the festivities of the official opening took place at the big station, Sir Topham Hatt sent a marconigram to the office of Sir Guy Granet, Director General of Movements and Railways from the wireless shack, which read:

"Great news! First major railway on Sodor completed this very day! Full details on the festivities later -Topham Hatt."

But the news was sadly overshadowed by the events of a more democratic happening on the mainland. The last Liberal Party had fallen and Prime Minister Herbert Asquith was forming an all-party coalition government in response to zealous supporters and Cabinet ministers who saw Asquith as a poor leader of the war. Even when Granet did reply to Hatt's message, he could only share his complements with a simple: "Good for you."

The next day, Thomas was allowed to learn the route of the newly completed main line and he wanted to say hello to the other engines on the island. On his way to Crovan's Gate, he passed the station of Ballahoo where a crowd was lined up at the newspaper office for any news of their relatives who had gone to serve the Gallipoli Campaign. None of them knew who was alive or dead, but the rumbling of Thomas' wheels drowned out all sounds of hope and fear of casualties and survivors. A similar occurrence was happening at Crovan's Gate when he arrived at the station, and it was there that he met a red narrow gauge engine named Skarloey, who was the namesake of the Skarloey Railway.

After a formal introduction, Thomas asked, "What do you think of this railway?"

"As beautiful as the day I first came here," said Skarloey. "But in this time of war and everything, I am absolutely unlucky to have a passenger who has lost a relative or a friend."

Then Thomas noticed the number 1 in gold on Skarloey's cab.

"You must be lucky to have the number one," he said.

"That number," Skarloey told him, "is why this railway is named after me. My friend Rheneas came here shortly afterwards and if there's one thing I've learned from him, it's that friends always stick together."

Thomas pondered over Skarloey's words as he went to see the Culdee Fell Railway at Kirk Machan, where he met Godred, the railway's own number 1 engine. Godred had been shut in the back of the shed after a serious accident where he slid off the rails and fell down a ravine. After a formal greeting, Godred embellished his thoughts of the war with a sensational tone.

"I have seen many families remain intact on this side of the island, but a few that I _have_ seen, have had their relatives die in an ambush. Even the breadwinner has gone to war. After the accident, my crew left for the war, and so far I haven't heard _anything_ from them."

Culdee, the number 4 engine and namesake of the Culdee Fell Railway, only got to see Thomas briefly as he was coming down from a run with his coach Catherine. Thomas meanwhile, went to the harbor of Kirk Ronan and met Clive, the number 1 of the Sodor and Mainland Railway and the first engine on the island to carry that number.

"The other number one was a 'Coffee Pot'," he said in a Scottish accent. "But he's far from here on the other side of the island."

"What's a 'Coffee Pot?'" asked Thomas.

"It's an engine with a boiler that points up into the air," replied Clive.

"Like those things people make coffee, tea and milk from. Those wee four engines look after one of the branch lines, taking trucks from Anopha Quarry, coughing up ditchwater as they go about, and now they're starting to get all worn out. Pretty soon in about five or ten years, we won't be using 'em anymore."

Arriving safely back to his new home of Vicarstown sheds, Thomas saw to it that the Coffee Pots' memory would be preserved. Edward remained asleep, and with only two engines in the shed, it was a very quiet night.


	4. Woe of War

The events of Saturday, May 22 was one of the worst railway accidents in the history of the United Kingdom. In Quintinshill, a troop train ran head on with a local from Carlisle, then a minute later, another express train pulled by two engines ran into the wreckage with a total loss of over 226 people. 246 of the victims were seriously injured, and an investigation by the Board of Trade had discovered that the accident was caused by a lazy signalman. George Hutchinson, the fireman of the local train who survived the crash along with the driver David Wallace, was a friend of Wilbert's father from his college days at the University of Edinburgh. Both men had failed to comply with Rule 55, and the signalmen responsible for the disaster, by the names of Tinsley and Meakin, were thrown in prison for a whole year.

When Sodor got wind of the news, the citizens of Vicarstown, including Carol and Wilbert, held a Sunday service with Sir Topham Hatt leading the congregation as they sang "Danny Boy" and "A Little Bit of Heaven, (Sure They Call It Ireland)". Some paid their respect in the street and the engines had their own prayers to thank for and remember the tragedy in the event of their own passengers and crewmen getting killed in such a disaster. The Union Flag was even held at half staff for the soldiers who died in the tragedy and would never see action on the battlefield.

Later that night, as over half of the United Kingdom was still in mourning for the Quintinshill disaster and other casualties of the war, Wilbert wanted to be with Thomas, having not spoken to him since the morning of the arrival. Carol took him to the shed, before heading back to the hotel for dinner. He was still reeling from the fact that his father had gone to war almost seven months ago, but to Wilbert, it felt like an eternity. Fresh tears sprouted his eyes, and Thomas, who was deeply hurt by the disaster, could not help him and it was Edward who asked, "Why are you crying?"

"I haven't seen Father in a long time," Wilbert said quietly.

Edward understood this, but he did not wish to have the boy leave just yet.

The next day on Monday, May 24th, as Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, Thomas went to work as large clouds hovered above the yard in a haunting reminder of the on-going events. As much as he thought about pulling a train service of his own, he wanted his passengers to be anything but newly-made widows and orphans who were tortured by the lack of their loved ones. Later in the afternoon, he saw Lily pulling into the station with her goods train, keeping her chin up as she whistled happily.

"Hullo!"

"How can I shunt here while the rest of England is fighting over there?" Thomas said sheepishly. "They must be suffering dreadfully in those fields."

"An engine can only fight if he participates," replied Lily. "Now, if you were human, would you rather fight or stay behind?"

"I would for honor," said Thomas. "But that's illogical...unless if I were to be enlisted as a war engine."

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," sighed Lily and she puffed away.

Colin was not feeling well by the next morning.

"Someone has to take my train to the other side of the island," he moaned.

There was no time to find another engine, so Thomas took the train as an opportunity to see the rest of the island and Edward followed him with his passenger train. They did not mind the extra work, since Thomas had already cleaned up the yard and fetched the coaches for Adam's train in the early morning.

Soon, they came to Tidmouth where five lorries transferred the loads to Arlesburgh, top station of the Mid Sodor Railway, another narrow gauge line that ran from there to Peel Godred. Duke, another of the older engines, took "The Picnic" special between Easter and Michaelmas and often worked at the mines in Cas-ny-Hawin and other parts of the line. To provide the war effort, lead from the mines would be used for chemical weapons on the enemy fronts. Duke ran his trains singularly on a twenty five mile run within ninety minutes. He carried his passengers in four bogie coaches, with an extra two coaches on busier days for the tourism season. He even tried pulling a mixed train, but his passengers complained over the delay of him shunting trucks. Once he received the loads of coal and slate from the Skarloey Railway, Duke obliged the transaction in a courteous manner, after all he was named in honor the Duke of Sodor, John Arnold Norramby, then chairman of the Mid Sodor Railway.

When Thomas headed back for home, he also helped in constructing a bay platform at Knapford Junction, where a separate track led to a branch line. He wondered what was on the line, but his driver said, "Probably nothing but gorgeous scenery."

"Can I see it?" asked Thomas.

"Someday, you will," replied the driver.

For the following week, Thomas worked long and hard to prove himself useful, and the other engines were grateful for his services.


	5. Blue

On Monday, May 31st, Sir Topham Hatt spoke with Albert Regaby in his office about an official livery for the engines of the North Western Railway. They were planning to use this new colour on Thomas and Edward. In light of the war, Mr. Regaby suggested a khaki livery, similar to the paintwork being used by the engines of the Great Western Railway, but Mr. Hatt wanted a colour that meant peace and loyalty as a symbol of anti-war propaganda, so he preferred a light shade of sky blue. Regaby and the other railway officials feared that Hatt would be jailed for opposition of the war if they used the paintwork in that manner, but Topham simply told them that it was a "universal matter of life".

Taking in his words, the shade of blue was accepted, and a handful of painters on the island had enough cans of blue paint for two engines and by the next morning on the first day of June, Thomas and Edward were sent to the Railway Works at Crovan's Gate to receive their new coats of paint.

"Why blue?" asked Thomas. "I'm fine just the way I am."

"The Director is officially adopting us into his railway," said Edward. "That means we're no longer part of our old railway anymore."

Thomas tried to take in as much as he could and accept it for what it was, but he resumed his gentle and happy mood when they arrived at the Works. The painters had been waiting for them. First, they scrubbed off Thomas and Edward's old paint with strong sponges, then they applied a special pink paint to go under the new blue coats, used to keep the water out.

An hour later, Thomas and Edward were covered from fender to firebox in bright blue paint with red stripes. They even had numbers painted in yellow on both sides of themselves. Thomas was given the number 1 on his side tanks and Edward was given the number 2 on his tender.

"How wonderful!" Thomas cried. "We're both blue!"

"And we each have numbers!" Edward added.

Thomas noticed the number 1 on his side tanks.

"Does this number mean I'm the best? I've always liked being number one."

"That just means we are the first and second engines of this railway," Edward said. "Now I've got a train to pull, you've have a position to keep up with in the yard."

So Thomas went back to Vicarstown and showed his smart blue paint to the other engines.

"You look like the sky on a clear day," remarked Colin.

"Like a calm ocean with no waves," chipped in Lily.

"Who cares? It's just a color," said Adam pompously.

The three engines were silenced by a voice belonging to Wilbert.

"What happened to your old color, Thomas?" he asked, hands behind his back.

"The Fat Director had me repainted this way," Thomas answered. "I'm now officially part of railway and I'm number one!"

Wilbert was confused about something else.

"Who's the 'Fat Director'?"

"Sir Topham Hatt, of course. It's just a nickname I came up with because he needs exorcise."

"But we still address him as 'sir', right?"

"Right."

Wilbert looked up into the sky as Thomas sprayed him with a cloud of steam.

"Something the matter, Wilbert?" asked Thomas.

"Last night they said London had been attacked," answered Wilbert. "With those airship things and such. Will they get us, too?"

"No, Wilbert, I hope not," said Thomas. "I can't imagine your family back home having the worst time of their lives if the Krauts get Brighton. But all the same, you and your father would be much happier back home with your family. This war should have ended by now."

Or so he thought...


	6. In Search of Vere

For the many British soldiers fighting in the Western Front, the war had been like a gory nightmare. Their new surroundings of poor food, harsh diseases, chemicals, infections, injuries and primitive living conditions were horrible, but the weather remained the same. The rich, the poor and the average working men fought the Imperial German Army in a spectacular display of gun shots, bombs and cries of the dying. Old and new friends appeared in their finest uniforms of different ranks and specialisms for the Battle of Festubert, the last British offense on Tuesday, May 25. As the rest of the battle ended on Friday, June 18th, Officer Lionel Sotheby of the Scottish Black Watch Regiment wrote the details of the offense to his mother:

"The Germans... were sniping from loop holes near the base of the parapet. They sniped at anything that moved, wounded and all. Thus we few that were left dug ourselves as low as possible. I was wedged in between two dead men... never shall I forget that awful experience."

Even as the Austro-Hungarian Empire fired their rifles at the Russian troops near Przemysl on June 2nd, a large party was held the following evening in Vicarstown on Sodor only 1,500 miles away, but in another world. This was the celebration of an event concerning the British occupation of Amara, Mesopotamia. With no bass brand provided for the natives and foreigners of Sodor, the members of the Regiment played their own instruments to accompany their dancing. Carol danced with Ethel Bray on light feet while Wilbert sat along and miserable by the window, him being too young for the alcoholic atmosphere of the men drinking absinthe who wanted a close up of seeing the Green Fairy upon succumbing to the drink. He thought back to his father, wondering if he was just about as lonely as he was.

En route to Dieppe from picking up wounded soldiers in the second battle of Artois, Captain James Ellis came to the bridge at 8:00 PM to check on the _Brighton IV's_ approach to any obstacles like a naval mine. Vere confronted him with political news.

"I hear Parliament has issued another customs pact to Holland," he said.

But the captain kept his eyes on the black horizon.

"You mean the Netherlands Oversea Trust Company?" he replied. "I hear they sell contraband goods. Great company the N.O.T., full of people from the Dutch East Indies."

"Why not be thankful that are not allied with the Germans?" asked Vere.

Captain Ellis didn't say anything, instead he poured his tea into a cup from the chartroom and drank it with a pucker of his lips.

"Who wonders about the Germans, this is a good tea."

He spoke to the officer on the port side of the ship.

"Keep maintaining full speed until we reach Dieppe. We'll stop for the night and take the soldiers home in the afternoon."

"Aye, sir," the officer saluted.

By 9:30 PM, Sir Topham Hatt came to check on Wilbert after the party was over. He found the young lad's resting against the window.

"How are you, Wilbert?"

"I don't know," said Wilbert sighing to himself. "I guess I just me dad."

"Wars don't last forever," said Sir Topham Hatt. "He'll be back soon."

"Can't he just take me home?"

"I don't know, but maybe I can keep a full track of his whereabouts in the wireless shack."

"You can do that?"

Wilbert was seemingly unfamiliar with wireless telegraphy, but Sir Topham Hatt remained positive over the outcome, using a smile and a hand signal to please the boy.

"I'll make sure of it."

And he left before Wilbert could specify the ship his father was on.

On his way to the wireless shack outside of town near the shore, Sir Topham Hatt decided to take a whiff of the calm sea air, scanning the horizon for any ships that in his sense, would know the whereabouts of Vere Awdry. After a while, he spotted the navigational lights of a steamer about two miles away from the Walney Channel. Mr. Hatt walked carefully to the wireless shack, asking the telegrapher for the name of the ship. The telegrapher was convinced that it was an Allied ship, but made sure that the ship's crew was familiar with a recognition signal by typing CQ into the Morse key.

As luck would have it, the telegrapher was hearing from Nancy, a ship from Tidmouth Harbour bound for Queenstown, Ireland with a list of merchant supplies. He assumed that she was the ship Sir Topham Hatt had seen in the distance, in fact Nancy had been travelling near the island to reach the Irish Sea. Her wireless man was making routine calls and when asked of Nancy's position from the wireless shack in Vicarstown, he gave them the correct position. The telegrapher later asked the following message to be relayed to outgoing ships:

"To Mr. Vere Awdry, we have your son and we request that you keep us up to date with your current position. If by any chance, please come to Vicarstown on the Island of Sodor if you wish to retrieve him."

The telegrapher repeated the message sixteen times, uncertain if Nancy had properly responded. Nancy, however, did respond-to outgoing ships. She sent the message to her sister Violet and Violet's captain dutifully changed course to Spain for a shipment of coal and firearms, avoiding the U-boats at any cost.

For the next two hours, the message regarding the whereabouts of Vere Awdry was picked up by the Leyland Liner _Louisianian_ and the Allan Line's _Scandinavian_ , both passing the message on to outgoing ships. The Marconi station at Poldhu, Cornwall, England received the message directly from Sodor and took the contents as matter of questioning. The news eventually traveled to the Awdry family in Brighton.

58 miles away aboard the White Star Liner _Olympic_ , having been converted into a troopship with a full dazzle camouflage, wireless operator Ernest James Moore and an apprentice named Alec Bagot, had picked up the message of Vere's whereabouts, carefully counting the number of dot and dashes received. Agreeing that Mr. Awdry was a passenger, they gave the message to Captain Bertram Hayes on the bridge, who was unfamiliar with the name, but suggested the same idea.

"If you see this Awdry fellow in the dining room, please tell me at once," he told the operators.

They went to the dining room where the troops were having a late dinner and asked each and every one of them for the name of Vere Awdry, but no one knew who he was. Afterwards, the flustered men checked the passenger list three times over, then two times with the manifest hold. More confused than ever, they assumed that a stowaway was onboard.

At 6:26 AM on June 4th, the telegrapher, having slept through a long night of wireless traffic, was back to requesting the whereabouts of Vere Awdry. By chance he received a response from the Cunard Liner _Saxonia_ , another troopship on duty since March. She was carrying approximately 500 German prisoners of war to Southend Pier in Essex where she was to be moored as an accommodation ship. While unfamiliar with Mr. Awdry, _Saxonia_ 's wireless man passed the message along to her sister ship _Ivernia_ and _Carpathia_ , who were already transporting troops of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Sailing with a convoy from Liverpool to Glasgow, Scotland, the ships drifted toward the HMHS _Dieppe_ through the river and asked the ship's crew for Mr. Awdry's name, this time one of the crewmembers, an engineer from the LBSCR, _was_ familiar with Vere and he relayed a simple message to oncoming traffic:

"Mr. Awdry is onboard the _Brighton_."


	7. Reunion with Wilbert

June 5th, 1915

In Le Havre, with some assistance from the Inman Liner _City of Paris_ , the HMHS _Brighton IV_ was carrying a sad cargo of 140 wounded soldiers. Several of these patients were taken back to Newhaven while those who had died during the journey were to be buried in the nearest cemetery. The ship's crew would pay a small fund to the up keeping of their graves. When Vere Awdry received a telegram from the _Dieppe_ mentioning his name, he was overjoyed and a little distressed about the mention of his son.

"They have my boy!" he cried to Captain James Ellis throwing the telegram in his face. Captain Ellis' initial thought was that the son had been captured by the German before Vere corrected him that Wilbert was safely on Sodor and that he had to see him for the sake of his own safety. The ship's junior officer saw on a map that Sodor was only 330 miles away, on the bridge he told Captain Ellis that such a journey seemed meaningless unless if there were any troops on the island in need of transportation. After a slight agreement, Captain Ellis ordered the _Brighton IV_ 's crew to change course. As he prepared for a welcoming committee of the Sodor Regiment, the ship's wireless telegrapher tapped out a message to Sodor:

"We are coming to your island for troop transportation. Have your men ready, Captain Ellis."

On the island, Thomas was just about waking up in the shed. He noticed that Wilbert was by his side and wondered what he was doing there.

"How are you holding up Wilbert?"

"The Fat Director says that Daddy's gonna come. Or least it's what he says."

"If you want to know something," Thomas answered. "You father is a very busy man, I'm sure he is tired of being around you all time, but I suppose he's gone to war for a more important reason."

"Well, he did say goodbye," Wilbert thought to himself. "But I just wanted to be near him."

Thomas heard his every word.

"War is not something for child," he replied. "It is meaningless, and people can get killed for only one reason: honour."

"He's a good man," Wilbert said abruptly. "The best father I've ever had, but I'm going to wait for him."

He walked off to the seaside and that is when Thomas decided to occupy the boy's time. He wanted to surprise Wilbert at the very moment his father would arrive.

"Have you thought of a school you wish to attend when you're older?" he asked.

Wilber thought about it. it was something he and his parents had discussed two months ago.

"Yes. Dauntseys School. He says that I should honor God and become a reverend, but I'm not sure."

"What about before the war, when I was built?" asked Thomas.

"I missed him when he went away in August, but in May, when you were built, all I had was you."

Only then did Thomas notice a ship's horn, but he needed to make sure that Wilbert and his father were reunited face to face.

"Is that him?" the boy asked.

"Probably another ship," Thomas lied. "What else can we share?"

Puzzled, Wilbert recalled a stage play.

" _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ , he told me about it once. It had a lady named...Madge Kendal."

"Driver's heard of her," said Thomas. "Mrs. Kendal is a very good actress. So is her husband, but her children...that I do not know."

The boat was drawing closer to the bay, the sounds of it's engines had silenced and footsteps were heard, faint at first then louder. Thomas made one last effort to make the reunion more emotional.

"What secrets do you and your father share?" he asked Wilbert.

"A song about this island," the boy answered. "To sing me to sleep on my last birthday."

Wilbert hummed the melody that stuck with him for the fifth year of his life when his father first heard about Sodor from the LBSCR officials and Sir Topham Hatt himself. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he followed another voice into the trees near the bay:

" _Children follow the dream_

 _To the land of make-believe,_

 _The Island of Sodor_

 _A magical land where dreams come true..._ "

Their voices came to a whisper.

The search was over.

"Wilbert!" Vere gasped. "My little Wilbert!"

Then they hugged each other as if they would never let go.

Carol stood nearby, gazing at the two from Thomas' valance. Then he walked up to his father and gave him a hug as well. The boys and their father chuckled when he heard about Wilbert stowing away on the special train, especially since he wanted to be away from the forthcoming zeppelins. Nevertheless, Vere thanked Carol for looking after his brother, Thomas for his friendship and Sir Topham Hatt for his tutoring.

Eventually, it was decided that Vere would stay true to his home, by training new recruits at the Strensall Camp in York, leaving the crew of _Brighton IV_ to their own devices in helping the wounded. He knew that Lucy, George and Bridget were worried-sick over the absence of their son and after three minutes they were ready to embark aboard the ship that would take them back home. But Wilbert wanted to say goodbye to Thomas first, knowing that the tank engine would never return to Brighton, for his life remained and would always be no other place than the Island of Sodor.

"Will I ever see you again?" Wilbert asked sadly.

Thomas plucked up a simple mixture of kindness and courage.

"If you ever wish to return to Sodor, it's only a whistle away."

Wilbert smiled a bittersweet smile as he boarded the _Brighton IV_. Then, Thomas watched the ship sail away from the island until it completely disappeared into a tiny speck. He knew Wilbert, his brother and his father were out there, somewhere, beneath the morning sky.

"Wilbert has chosen wisely," Thomas thought. "And so have I."

They knew that the greatest power - the one more precious than money or monarchy - was friendship.

In February 1916, Vere Awdry resigned from the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in honor of his oldest son Carol, who became one of the first casualties in the Battle of Verdun. At 62 years of age, his life and his career were hardly over, but Wilbert's memories of Thomas, Sodor and their friendship continued to hang over him like a cloud. His father, Vere on the other hand, would continue to support the family until his death, twenty five years later.

In the Forest of Compiègne, French Marshal Ferdinand Foch concluded the Great War on Monday, November 11, 1918 with an armistice. Over the last four years, his army had seen over 1,357,800 Frenchmen killed in action, generating a total of 42,188,810 Allied casualties at the approximate costs of 7,750,919 prisoners of war, 21,219,452 wounded and 8,410,000 mobilized. That same Monday, Matthias Erzberger, head of the German delegation, was among the many politicians to sign the Armistice. In it contained the immediate removal of all German troops from the French region and the west side of the Rhine, condemned all military hostilities within six hours, recommended the surrender and internment of the German fleet and called for the release of all French, British and Italian prisoners of war. Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau responded with a general order from Foch, stating that "hostilities will cease on the whole front as from November 11 at 11 o'clock French time. The Allied troops will not, until further order, go beyond the line reached on that date and at that hour."

In Paris, a peace conference was opened on January 18th, 1919. The Treaty of Versailles, signed on June 28th, blamed the German military for a full cause of the war and placed costly reparations to the Fatherland. It also created separate treaties for the other Central Powers on the German side and the drawing of new national boundaries. It also found no discrimination against the Japanese despite a Racial Equality Proposal enacted by Count Makino Nobuaki. The late Archduke Franz Ferdinand was forgiven and the U.S. Senate did not ratify any of the peace treaties. The League of Nations, approached by the British Empire, recommended the security of France, settled territorial contentions and finally, removing the threat of the German High Seas Fleet.

Now that the war was over, December saw the first homecomings of British and American soldiers as well as memorials for the dead. Edwin Lutyens designed the Merchant Seamen's Memorial Garden dedicated to the marines. The Imperial Camel Corps sought the loss of 346 men, half of them New Zealanders with their own memorial at Victoria Embankment. Others wished to make memorials for animals, civil incidents and natural disasters. Faced with 132 billion gold marks, a few subjects of the German Empire rushed their apologizes to their former enemies. When Russia defaulted on all of the Imperial commitments to the Triple Entente alliance with the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, the country had effectively exited the war. Later on, the Bulgarian government capped a grand total of 2.25 billion gold francs to the Entente for reparations. The soldiers ended up with less than they deserved, but they were happy to be home and were able to share their own stories of heroic and frightening experiences with their relatives.

In many ways, the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 marked the official end of the extended Edwardian era. A war guilt clause and new laws about international organizations assisted and regulated the labour supply and working hours of the common man to prevent unemployment. No world after all is truly without war, no matter how big, no matter how small. Humankind, far from overcoming the follies of their ways, were still subject to the harsh vice and corruption of politics and government. Soon a new Polish Republic was formed while the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved into smaller states, the Ottoman Empire collapsed, the Russians found a new voice in communism with the newly formed Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom suffered an economic recession and a political party of totalitarian stirrings and fascist ideologies promising to restore Germany to it's former glory was just around the corner.


	8. Thomas and Gordon

Thomas' memory of Wilbert lived on long after the World War had passed into history. In 1922, following the withdrawal of the Wellsworth and Suddery rolling stock, Sir Topham Hatt purchased two new tender engines from the newly grouped London and North Eastern Railway: Henry, who became number 3 and Gordon who became number 4. Both engines proved to be problematic for the railway, resulting in two such incidents of Gordon getting stuck on a hill and Henry having been blocked off in a tunnel for being afraid of the rain spoiling his lovely coat of green paint. After Gordon burst his safety valve while pulling the express, Henry was given a second chance and with Edward's help, all three engines became great friends and Sir Topham Hatt rewarded Henry with a new coat of blue paint. The story proved to be incredible and compelling amongst the residents of Sodor and inspired a major children's book titled _The Three Railway Engines_ in 1945, written by none other than Wilbert Awdry and his young son Christopher. Over thirty years after his arrival on Sodor, Thomas was given a book of own, simply titled _Thomas the Tank Engine_ , and this is how it began:

"Thomas was a tank engine who lived at a big station. He had six small wheels, a short stumpy funnel, a short stumpy boiler, and a short stumpy dome.

He was a fussy little engine, always pulling coaches about. He pulled them to the station ready for the big engines to take out on long journeys; and when trains came in, and the people had got out, he would pull the coaches away, so that the big engines could go and rest.

Thomas was a cheeky little engine, too. He thought no engine worked as hard as he did. So he used to play tricks on them. He liked best of all to come quietly beside a big engine dozing on a siding and make him jump.

" _Peep, peep, peep, pip, peep!_ Wake up, lazybones!" he would whistle. "Why don't you work hard like me?"

Then he would laugh rudely and run away to find some more coaches."

When Thomas first met Gordon, the big blue engine just treated him as if he were a peasant.

"The Fat Director must have made a terrible mistake sending me here. Little engines aren't exactly really useful."

"I _am_ really useful!" Thomas argued.

"For fetching coaches perhaps," chuckled Gordon. "If you stick around long enough you might be lucky enough to see me pulling passenger trains. That will be a fine sight for you."

And he puffed away, only to realize that the train he had been assigned to pull, the Wild Nor' Wester, had been late, and he had to run as fast as he could to make up for lost time. Gordon arrived back at a siding in Vicarstown very tired, he was just going to sleep when Thomas came up in a cheeky way.

"Wake up, Lazybones!" he whistled. "Do some hard work for a change! You can't catch me!"

And he ran off laughing.

"Oooohhhhh..."

Instead of going to sleep again, Gordon was not willing to forgive Thomas and he was thinking of a way to get him back.

The next morning, Thomas found it hard to wake up. His driver and fireman couldn't make him start, his fire went out and there was not enough steam. He yawned as Henry tried to wake him up with his whistle.

"It's nearly time for the Express," Henry reminded him. "Gordon will be waiting for his coaches."

At last, Thomas started.

"Oh dear, oh dear," he yawned. "Must get going ! Must get going!"

"Come on," said the coaches. "Hurry up!"

Thomas gave them a rude bump and started for the station.

"Don't dawdle, don't dawdle," he grumbled.

"Where have you been? Where have you been?" asked the coaches crossly.

Thomas fussed into the station where Gordon was waiting.

"Hurry up you!" said Gordon, crossly.

"Hurry up yourself!" remarked Thomas.

"Hmmm. Yes," said Gordon. "I will."

And almost before the coaches had stopping moving, Gordon was coupled to the train.

" _Poop poop,_ " he whistled. "Get in quickly, please."

So the people got in quickly, the signal went down, the clock struck the hour, the Guard waved his green flag and Gordon started so quickly that there was no time to uncouple Thomas. The heavy train moved quickly out of the station going faster and faster and faster and faster—too fast for Thomas. He wanted to stop, but he couldn't.

" _Peep! Peep!_ Stop! Stop!" he whistled.

"Come on! Keep up!" laughed Gordon.

"You can't get away! You can't get away!" laughed the coaches.

Poor Thomas was going faster than he had ever gone before, he was out of breath and his wheels hurt him but he had to go on.

"Stop! STOP!" he continued to scream.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry," laughed Gordon in front. "Express coming through!"

"I shall never be the same again," Thomas thought sadly as they passed Edward with his goods train. "My wheels will be quite worn out."

At last they stopped at the station of Crovan's Gate. Gordon checked the clock.

"Oh, yes," he said, knowing that this time, his timing was perfect.

Some passengers laughed to see Thomas puffing and panting behind. They uncoupled him from the train and he felt very silly and exhausted.

"Well, little Thomas," chuckled Gordon. "Now you know what hard work is like, don't you?"

Poor Thomas couldn't answer. He had no breath. He just puffed slowly away to rest and had a long, long drink from the water tower next to him.

He went home very slowly and was careful afterwards never to be cheeky to Gordon again.

"Maybe I don't have to tease Gordon to feel important," Thomas thought to himself.


	9. Thomas' Very First Passenger Train

October 8, 1923

By the next year, Thomas was back in the yard again, grumbling to himself because he was not allowed to pull passenger trains.

"It's not fair! I've been here for eight years and all the other engines are pulling trains except for me! I never go anywhere."

As he backed onto a siding, one of the newer engines from three years ago, a red L&YR Class 28 named Eagle stopped alongside his brother, who was none other than James, the same engine Thomas met during his journey to Sodor eight years ago.

"You can take my trucks away now," James said to Thomas. "I'm ready for my coaches."

The coaches turned out to be Annie and Clarabel, who were most appalled.

"You're such a show-off, James!" Clarabel fumed.

"Maybe I am," said James. "But you'll just wait and see if the Fat Director doesn't give me my own branch line soon."

Then Thomas smelled something black, like tree catching on fire.

"Do you smell something smoky, James?" asked Thomas. "Like a burning smell?"

"No, not really," James sniffed the air, but could find nothing. "Nothing out of the ordinary."

And he puffed away with Annie and Clarabel behind. Thomas spoke to Eagle.

"Why can't I pull passenger trains, too?"

"You're too impatient," Eagle said. "You'd be sure to leave something behind!"

"Rubbish," said Thomas, crossly. "Just you wait. I'll show you."

Later in the evening, he found Henry by a water tower.

"Hello, Henry, you do look glum. Is it because you hid in a tunnel because of the rain?"

"I don't mind the rain now," Henry said sadly. "I used to be afraid of it, but now it makes me feel sad."

"Because you were blocked in a tunnel?"

"That's partly it, it's just a natural reaction. I mean, doesn't anyone feel sad on a rainy day?"

"Good point," Thomas figured. "But rain is just water, the same as you put in your boiler."

"Don't tease about it," fumed Henry. "I've had enough of that event to last me a lifetime."

"I was just asking," Thomas corrected. "You can't be afraid or feel sad about the rain all the time. Sometimes, rain can be for fun things, like playing in puddles or rolling your wheels in the mud."

"I hardly worry at all when it's sunny."

And Henry puffed away leaving Thomas in a state of confusion. James returned with Annie and Clarabel.

"Here's James!"

"Be careful!" whined the coaches.

Thomas sniffed the air. There was another whiff of black smoke.

"There's that burning smell again," he said, but James just blew it away and pretended as if nothing had happened.

One morning, he and Henry were alone. Henry was ill. The men worked hard, but he didn't get better and he wouldn't even come out of the shed.

"Do you think it might rain today, Henry?" Thomas asked.

The clouds above them covered the sky in an overcast shadow.

"No, Thomas. I think there's something wrong with my boiler. And when something is wrong with your boiler, it's hard to pull trains."

Now, Henry usually pulled the first train in the morning, and Thomas had to get his coaches ready.

"If Henry is ill," he thought, "perhaps I shall pull his train."

Out loud, he said to Henry.

"Maybe your firebox needs warming up, I'll go and fetch your coaches."

And Thomas ran off to find the coaches.

"Come along, come along," he fussed.

"There's plenty of time, there's plenty of time," grumbled the coaches.

As he was shunting them to the platform humming to himself, Edward came to the station, ready for his own train.

"What are you so happy about today, Thomas?" he asked.

"If Henry doesn't come," Thomas said. "I might get to pull his train."

"I hope you'll do well," Edward reminded him.

He took them to the platform and wanted to run round in front at once, but his driver wouldn't let him.

"Don't be impatient, Thomas," he said.

So Thomas waited and waited. The people got in, the guard and stationmaster walked up and down, the porters banged the doors, and still Henry didn't come. Thomas got more and more excited every minute.

Sir Topham Hatt came out of his office to see what was the matter and the guard and the stationmaster told him about Henry's illness.

"You'll have to find another engine," he ordered.

"There's only Thomas, sir," they said.

"You'll have to do it then, Thomas. Be quick now."

"Yes sir, sir!"

So Thomas raced around to the front of the coaches and backed up to them with a bump.

"Don't be impatient," said his driver. "Wait until everything is ready."

But Thomas was far too excited to listen to a word he said.

He saw Edward pulling out of the station just as the guard blew his whistle, so he took off before his coaches could be coupled up. People shouted and waved at him, but he didn't stop.

"I'm doing it! I'm doing it! They're waving at me because I'm such a splendid engine," he thought importantly. "Henry says it's hard to pull trains, but _I_ think it's easy."

"Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" he puffed, pretending to be like Gordon.

Along the way, he met James.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Can't you see, I'm pulling coaches, James?" Thomas chuckled.

James thought he was going out of his mind.

As Thomas passed the first signal box, he saw the men leaning out, waving and shouting.

"They're pleased to see me," he thought. "They've never seen _me_ pulling a train before. It's nice of them to wave." And he whistled, " _Peep, peep,_ thank you," and hurried on.

But he came to a signal at "Danger."

"Bother!" he thought. "I have to stop, and I was going so nicely, too. What a nuisance signals are!" And he blew an angry " _peep, peep_ " on his whistle.

One of the signalmen ran up.

"Hello, Thomas," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm pulling my very first passenger train," said Thomas, proudly. "Can't you see?"

"Really? Where are your coaches then?"

Thomas looked back.

"Oh no!" he said. "We left them behind!"

"Yes," said the signalman. "You'd better go back quickly and fetch them."

Poor Thomas so upset he nearly shed a tear.

"Cheer up," said his driver. "Let's go back quickly and try again."

Back at the station, all the passengers were all talking at once. They were telling Sir Topham Hatt, the stationmaster and the guard what a bad railway it was.

"Please! Everybody calm down!" he shouted. "We will find another engine as soon as we can!"

But when Thomas came back and saw how sad he was, they couldn't be cross.

"I'm sorry sir," Thomas apologized. "I really am."

"I did say to wait until everything was ready," the driver snapped back.

This time, Thomas waited to be coupled up to the train and for the passengers to climb on board, and this time he _really_ pulled it.

But for a long time afterwards the other engines laughed at Thomas, and said: "Look, there's Thomas, who wanted to pull a train, but forgot about the coaches!"

But Thomas had already learned not to make the same mistake again.


	10. Thomas and the Troublesome Trucks

October 9, 1923

That night at Vicarstown Sheds, the other engines thought it was very funny when they heard the story of Thomas' Train.

"I'm certainly glad I came to work on this railway, Thomas," Gordon laughed. "You always give us something funny to laugh about!"

"The Fat Director will never let me pull trains again," Thomas grumbled. "And I'm tired of pushing coaches, I want to go places and do things! I want to see the world!"

The others except Edward didn't take much notice, for Thomas was a little engine with a long tongue.

Edward felt sorry for Thomas.

"Don't be sad, Thomas. If you really want to go out, I've got some trucks to take to Wellsworth tomorrow. If you take them instead, I'll push coaches in the yard."

"Would you do that for me?"

"Yes, Thomas. I would."

"Thank you," said Thomas. "That will be nice. I even wish it was morning already."

So they asked their drivers the next morning, and when they said "Yes," Thomas ran happily to find the trucks. He could hardly contain his excitement.

"Is it these ones?" he asked Edward once they were in the yard. "Is it those?"

"Those over there."

Edward looked over at the train of goods on the siding next to him.

Now trucks are silly and noisy. They talk a lot and don't attend to what they are doing. They don't listen to their engine, and when he stops, they bump into each other screaming, "Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Whatever is happening?"

And I'm sorry to say they play tricks on an engine who is not used to them. Edward knew all about trucks. He warned Thomas to be careful.

"I need to tell you something I-"

But Thomas was too excited to listen.

"I know," he interrupted. "I have to be coupled up before I go. You don't have to tell me, I've learned my lesson."

And he bumped the trucks so hard they shouted. "Ow! Oh! Oi! Give it a rest!"

"Troublesome Trucks can play tricks on you, Thomas," Edward warned again. "It's not the same as in the yard. They'll push you off the rails if you're not careful."

"Don't be silly," Thomas giggled. "You worry just as much as Henry."

The shunter fastened the coupling, and when the signal dropped, Thomas was ready. The guard blew his whistle.

" _Peep! peep!_ " answered Thomas and started off.

But the trucks weren't ready.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!" they screamed as their couplings tightened. "Wait, Thomas. Wait." But Thomas wouldn't wait.

"Come-on. Come-on," he puffed, and the trucks grumbled slowly out of the siding onto the main line.

"Do be careful!" Edward called after him.

Thomas was happy. "Come along. Come along," he puffed.

"All-right!-Don't-fuss. All-right!-Don't fuss," grumbled the trucks.

They clattered through Ballahoo station, and rumbled over the Sodor Suspension Bridge. Then he was out into the open countryside once more.

Thomas whistled " _Peep! peep!_ " and they rushed through the tunnel in which Henry had been shut up.

"Hurry, hurry!" called Thomas. He was feeling very proud of himself.

But the trucks grew crosser and crosser.

Then they came to the top of the hill where Gordon had stuck.

"Steady now, steady," warned the driver, and he shut off steam, and began to put on the brakes.

"We're stopping, we're stopping," called Thomas.

"No! No! No! No!" answered the trucks, and bumped into each other.

"Go-on!-go-on!" and before his driver could stop them, they had pushed Thomas down the hill, and were rattling and laughing behind him.

Poor Thomas tried hard to stop them from making him go too fast.

"Stop pushing, stop pushing," he hissed, but the trucks would not stop.

"Go-on!-go-on!' they giggled in their silly way.

Thomas was traveling much too fast and at any moment he would reach the next station.

He was glad when they got to the bottom. Then he saw in front the place where they had to stop.

"There's the station! Oh, dear! What shall I do?"

They rattled through the Wellsworth station, passed Henry with his early train and luckily the line was clear as they swerved into the goods yard.

" _Oh-ooh e-r,_ " groaned Thomas, as his brakes held fast and he skidded along the rails.

"I must stop," and he shut his eyes tight.

When he opened them he saw he had stopped just in front of the buffers, and there watching him was-Sir Topham Hatt!

"What are _you_ doing here, Thomas?" he asked sternly. "And why did you come so fast?"

"I've brought Edward's trucks," Thomas answered sadly. "And I didn't mean to. I was _pushed_."

"You've a lot to learn about trucks, little Thomas. That's why I asked Edward to bring them and not _you_. They are silly things and must be kept in their place. After pushing them about here for a few weeks, you'll know almost as much about them as Edward. Then you'll be a really useful engine. But if you're not prepared to be patient and learn how to do things properly, I'll have to keep you in the shed until you are ready to accept the responsibility, and if you are not willing to accept the responsibility, I will keep you in that shed for always and always and always."

"But I want to learn!" gasped Thomas. "I _do_ want to be a really useful engine!"

"We'll see," said Sir Topham Hatt, and he left in his car.

* * *

The next day was rainy and he was cross with Edward for taking over Thomas' job. He told Edward to keep Thomas at Wellsworth until he was able to learn about trucks as much as Edward himself.

At Vicarstown, Thomas pushed the first train onto platform 3. Edward was there, ready to transfer the little tank engine to Wellsworth.

"I'm sorry, Edward," Thomas apologized. "This is all my fault."

"Never mind, Thomas," explained Edward. "At least we'll be working together like old times."

"Yes...like old times-who is taking this train?"

"Henry."

The rain drops fell upon the station, a minute passed and Henry didn't come.

"I'll go look for him," said Thomas and he hurried back to Vicarstown Sheds to find Henry.

Henry's tender remained confined within the shed while he himself was sitting in the rain, feeling sad and letting the water soak his lovely blue paint. There was nothing his driver or firemen could do to make him move.

"So this is how it feels to be wet," thought Henry. "The good thing about it is that my paint is not getting spoiled, but how can such weather put me in such a gloomy mood?"

At last, Thomas came along.

"Your passengers are waiting, Henry," he said. But Henry was too glum to think about anything else.

"You should take it for me," said Henry sadly. "You like pulling passenger trains, don't you?"

"I'm going to Wellsworth soon with Edward," replied Thomas. "And it's _your_ train, not mine."

"I'd rather stay and let the rain drown my sorrows," Henry refused. "Then my driver can spend his time giving me a good rub down. It's the best way to keep my paint nice."

"You can do it after you take the train," said Thomas kindly. "Just follow me into these little drops of rain and everything will be fine."

Finally, Henry moved his tender out of the shed. He felt cold, but determined and wanting to pull his train against the vast forces of nature. He laughed all the way. After all, it was only water-wasn't it?


	11. Thomas Saves The Day

October 30, 1923

Thomas worked hard in the Wellsworth yard now. He knew that he wasn't as clever as he had thought. Besides, he wanted to learn all about trucks and coaches to be a really useful engine.

Every day Sir Topham Hatt came to the station to catch his train, and he always said "Hullo" to Thomas.

"Remember, don't be impatient, Thomas. You can never be as strong and fast as Gordon, but you can be a really useful engine. Don't let the silly trucks tease you."

There were lots of trucks in the yard - different ones came in every day - and Thomas had to push and pull them into their right places.

But on a siding by themselves were some trucks that Thomas was told he "mustn't touch."

There was a small coach, some flat trucks, and two queer things his driver called cranes named Judy and Jerome.

"That's the breakdown train," he said. "When there's an accident, the workmen get into the coach, and the engine takes them quickly to help the hurt people, and to clear and mend the line. The cranes are for lifting heavy things like engines, and coaches, and trucks."

On the first day of November, Thomas was in the yard. He met Edward with a train of coal trucks.

"The Fat Director is coming by this afternoon to see how you're getting on," he said.

"I'm getting on all right now," Thomas asked. "Aren't I?"

"Of course you are!" remarked Edward. "I think you nearly know about trucks as I do now."

Suddenly, they heard an engine whistling, "Help! Help! Help! Help!" and a goods train came rushing through much too fast.

The engine was James and he was frightened. His brake blocks were on fire, and smoke and sparks streamed out on each side.

"They're pushing me! They're pushing me! They're pushing, pushing, pushing me!" he panted.

"On! On! On! On! On! On! Faster! Faster! Faster! Faster!" laughed the trucks; and still whistling "Help! Help! Oh dear! I don't want to go any faster! I want to stop!" poor James disappeared under a bridge.

"I'd like to teach those trucks a lesson," said Thomas the Tank Engine and he hurried after James to make up for a long overdue apology for refusing to help him pull his special train when he first travelled to Sodor 8 years ago.

With every ounce of speed he had, he caught up with the brake van, intent on stopping the runaway train himself.

"Couple me up! Couple me up!" he shouted to the guard. "I need to slow James down!"

The guard complied and bought out a shunter's rope. He was trying to slip it onto Thomas' front coupling, but it was difficult to do so when Thomas moved back by a few feet.

"We mustn't give up!" he urged the guard. "We have to try!"

But it was too late, James came to a bend in the line, his fast speed had gotten the best of him and he fell right off the tracks!

Thomas stopped just in time to see the damage done. The brake van and the last few trucks were on the rails, but the front ones were piled in a heap. James was in a field with a cow looking at him, and his driver and fireman were feeling him all over to see if he was hurt.

"Never mind, James," they said. "It wasn't your fault. It was those wooden brakes they gave you. We always said they were no good."

"Edward was right!" Thomas thought aloud. "Trucks can run an engine right off the rails! I'd better go and get help!"

He came running into the yard. "James is off the line - the breakdown train - quickly, this is an emergency!" he shouted.

The cranes, Judy and Jerome woke up.

"Judy?"

"Jerome?"

"Emergency!" the cranes said together.

"Right, we're ready!" shouted Judy.

"Crew, up!" shouted Jerome.

So Thomas was coupled on, the workmen jumped into their coach, and off they went.

Thomas worked his hardest. "Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!" he puffed, and this time he wasn't pretending to be like Gordon, he really meant it.

"Bother those trucks and their tricks," he thought, "I hope poor James gets treated well after this."

When they got to the field, Thomas pushed the breakdown train alongside. Then he pulled the unhurt trucks out of the way.

"Oh - dear! - oh dear! Don't push me! Go gently!" they groaned.

"Serves you right. Serves you right," puffed Thomas crossly.

When the men put other trucks on the line he pulled them away, too. He was hard at work puffing backwards and forwards all the afternoon.

"This'll teach you a lesson, this'll teach you a lesson," he told the trucks, and they answered "Yes - it - will - yes - it - will," in a sad, groany, creaky, sort of voice.

They left the broken trucks and mended the line. Then with Judy and Jerome's help, they put James back on the rails.

"Have you got him at the front there, Judy?" asked Jerome.

"Yes, Jerome," replied Judy. "Ready to lift."

James was lifted safely onto the track and Sir Topham Hatt came to make sure that everything was all right.

"Well done, Thomas!" he said kindly. "Now I'd like you to take James to the Steamworks while Edward takes the breakdown train away. I'm sure you know where it is?"

"Yes, sir. I do, sir. It's where I was painted blue 8 years ago!"

Sir Topham Hatt chuckled. "That's right."

So Thomas coupled up to James and he helped him to the Steamworks.

That night, the other engines were very happy to see Thomas indeed. He was given a hero's welcome by Henry, Gordon and Eagle, their drivers and firemen clapped for him and even Edward was the first to give his thanks.

"Well done, Thomas. Today you really were the best engine."

Even Gordon seemed impressed.

"What you did was terrific!" added Henry.

"Really useful! That's what I say!" said a voice. It was Sir Topham Hatt. "James shall have some proper brakes and a new coat of paint, and you Thomas, due to your unselfish bravery and heroism, shall have a branch line all to yourself."

"My own branch line?! Oh, thank you, sir!" said Thomas happily.

"Does this mean he won't be our station pilot anymore?" asked Gordon frantically. "Who will look after our coaches? Tender engines are not meant to shunt."

"That's because you have no experience in shunting," said Sir Topham Hatt. "There are tender engines that do shunt on the mainland and abroad. So in the meantime, you, Henry and James will have to fetch your own coaches until I can get another small engine like Thomas."

Before Gordon could argue anymore, Sir Topham Hatt turned on his heels and walked proudly away.


	12. Afterwards

November 5, 1923

Four days later, an engine came into Tidmouth yard that Thomas and Edward had never seen before. He looked exactly like Eagle, but with black wheels and the number 5 on his tender.

"James" asked Thomas. "Is that really you?"

"Of course it is!" chuckled James. "How do you like my new paintwork? I'm just like my brother now!"

"That indeed!" said Eagle from nearby. "You look splendid!"

"I know," James replied flirtatiously. "I'm ready for my coaches now."

But it was Thomas was coupled up to Annie and Clarabel.

"We're Thomas' coaches now," said Annie.

"And he's got his very own branch line, too," added Clarabel.

As Thomas puffed towards the big station, Edward followed him at a short distance.

"Off to see the world now, Thomas?"

"Yes, Edward, I am."

Gordon was resting at the platform, it had taken his passengers a long time to board when Thomas came up and whistled, "Wake up, Lazybones! Really useful engine coming through!"

And Gordon knew that Thomas had not changed a bit.

"Oh, the indignity."

Now Thomas is as happy as can be. He has a branch line all to himself, and puffs proudly backwards and forwards with his two coaches all day.

He is never lonely, because there is always some engine to talk to at the junction.

Edward and Henry stop quite often and tell him the news. Gordon is always in a hurry and does not stop, but he never forgets to say " _Poop, poop_ " to little Thomas, and Thomas always whistles " _Peep, peep_ " in return.

Even at the end of the line he is never lonely, for there is a very old engine on a siding covered with creepers. The engine noticed Thomas' number when he came in.

"You must be the new number 1! My name is Glynn."

"I'm Thomas, You must be one of the Coffee Pots."

"Of course," Glynn chuckled. "Just be sure to look after the branch line, Thomas and wear that number with pride!"

"Don't worry, Mr. Glynn, I will!" said Thomas. "You can count on me!"

As he settled into his new shed, Thomas wondered about Glynn's fate as well as his own. Was he a piece of history for all the world to share, or was he a piece of machinery waiting to be thrown away when the time came? The Island of Sodor would be lost for so many years and would come back to life as a living museum dedicated to the golden age of steam locomotives. Yet, as with the First World War and his friendship with Wilbert Awdry, the final opponent was time. Technological advancements continued as steam engines would later be replaced by locomotives that ran on diesel fuel and electricity for higher speeds and luxurious travels across the globe. Far away on the mainland and abroad, the many steam locomotives that have survived into preservation attested not only to the history and railways of Sodor, but also to the human elements.

But all in all, Thomas lived on as a subject of matter, as a cultural phenomenon, as a reminder of great optimism and living proof that even the littlest of engines can overcome the greatest of accomplishments.


End file.
